Only Three Reviews? This Is A Classic!

First of all, if you love great music and some of the best vocal harmonizing ever recorded, buy this 2-CD set. It's all here. The hits that have stood the test of time for 45 years. Tremendous covers of songs by Little Richard, Ray Charles and Roy Orbison. High, lonesome covers of ancient folk songs covering topics mostly dealing with death. I know I sound like a commercial, but this collection was such a fantastic surprise to me that I really want to shout it to the world.



The Everly Brothers are often overlooked or dismissed in any discussion of seminal influences on rock and roll. Too wimpy, many say. Had a few hits, then crashed and burned. But Phil Everly's "Can't Recall" is pretty much a blueprint for the song stylings of Paul Simon. Furthermore, Gram Parsons & Chris Hillman's gorgeous harmonizing within The Flying Burrito Brothers owes a big debt to the Everlys.



Essential.

The early years when all they had to do was dream

The Everly brothers were raised on country music but they quickly adapted to rock'n'roll, the exciting new music of the late fifties. In truth, they never strayed all that far from their roots although it seemed a long way at the time. Despite a massive injection of R+B into their music, the music here has a lot more in common with traditional country than with contemporary pop or country music.

The classic songs that the bothers recorded during this period of their career included Bye bye love, Wake up little Susie, All I have to do is dream, Claudette, Bird dog, Devoted to you, Problems, Take a message to Mary, Poor Jenny (included twice because the USA and UK single versions differed), Till I kissed you, Let it be me, When will I be loved and Like strangers. Some were only B-sides originally but all have become classics.

The brothers also recorded fine covers of R+B classics including Rip it up, Keep a knocking, Be bop a lula and Leave my woman alone.

As if to emphasize their determination not to lose their musical roots, they recorded an album of Appalachian folk-country music, Songs our daddy taught us, at the height of their pop success. The tracks from that album occupy the first thirteen tracks of the second CD.

So this collection contains all the music they recorded for Cadence that most people will ever want, although the diehard fans can find alternate takes and demos elsewhere. For those who want more than just the hits, this is the ideal collection of the Everly brothers' fifties music. Other collections are available covering their later music.

the best of the best

What more can I say? This has my two favorite Everly Brothers tracks...the original "Wonder If I Care As Much" and "Maybe Tomorrow." Think about it folks...how are you going to go wrong? Buy this. Buy it today. Buy two. It's that good.